Infiltration
by golfer
Summary: Samus is contacted by an anonymous source claiming that the subspace army, inhabited by the infamous primids, have a secret power source, a pikachu, deep within the facility. Capturing it will cripple the war effort by whoever leads the subspace army. As we know, though, things are not always how they seem. Good to be back, everyone.


**I'm back.**

* * *

"Do you truly think that the primids have a power source here?" Samus inquired. Samus stood in the shadow of the imposing fortress, really a metal behemoth that she just had to see for herself. It looked like a castle Dracula might fancy, she thought. It was a massive, square shape, the bottom of which was slightly overgrown in the local jungle plants. Her ship smoldered in the flora to the west of her position- she was forced to make an "improvised" landing when she was radioed an alert from an anonymous source who dubbed himself "the watcher."

"Indeed..." the watcher confirmed, a slight smile coming through his calm and unusually deep voice. "Inside is something I think even the likes of you, miss Aran, have not beheld in your travels. You see, it is a creature known as a Pikachu..."

"I've heard of it. A rat that can expel electricity. But...tell me more. Its hostility rating?"

"Let's not worry about details, miss Aran," the watcher mused. "What does it matter what the little yellow fur ball thinks in its sweet little skull?" Samus shook her head, aware that the watcher, if that was indeed his real name, could not see her.

"That's a big negatory there, buddy," Samus stated plainly. "I need to be prepared for any threats inside. Understand that this is enemy territory and I'm hunting to rescue something I've never seen before. If you want this mission done..." a long sigh was heard through Samus's speaker. The watcher was becoming impatient with her consistent objections. "If you want this mission done, I need more intel than 'catch an electric rat inside an enemy facility.'"

"Fine. Have it your way, then," the watcher retorted with a short grunt. "The research facility is relatively unguarded- only a few primids are inside and should be unaware of your presence. The pikachu should be in the center of the facility. It's an electric rat. What more intel do you need?"

"That sounds fine. I've done worse," Samus stated, already marching towards the broad side of the facility.

"Finally. Get to it," the watcher said, taking a deep breath. "Once you get the Pikachu, you should be able to leave the way you came. What more do you need? Maybe how to fire your gun?" Samus growled a bit before cracking a slight smile at the corner of her mouth. She knew how to respond.

"Sheesh, looks like I'm not the only woman on the mission!"

The radio went silent with a click. Samus got to work and calibrated her visor to simple combat mode. She knew the primids that lie within were not going to be hot blooded like she was. Rather, Samus reasoned, they would be cold blooded, if beings like them had blood at all. She wasted no time in kicking beside the dirt mound and weed that was in front of the door- a sign that nobody used that door often.

The large door was easily twice her size, standing at about twelve feet tall and six feet wide. Heaving her body into it, the door creaked open slowly, but loudly. Samus clenched her teeth, slightly nervous at the distinct and obvious sound her entry had made. It was another sign that nobody had entered in that way for a long time.

Samus crept into a large, metal room, with various machines that seemed to range in age from ancient to futuristic, even for her. She covered the entire room with her gun, searching for anything that would make the slightest movement. It wouldn't be an ally, not behind enemy lines like this. On the end opposite to her position was a large, blue tube with a platform that gently wobbled. On the side of this tube were two buttons- a green up arrow, and a red down arrow.

"The elevator..." Samus muttered, slowly stepping towards it while knowing that it would probably lead somewhere beneficial. She remembered that the watcher had said that the pikachu's position was the center of the facility. Samus believed it. What she didn't buy, however, was that it would be unguarded. Something placed dead center of such an enormous facility, she reasoned while walking towards the elevator, must be of great importance, and thus heavily guarded.

Upon taking a careful step on the platform, she jumped the slightest bit when it lurched upwards, but she stayed completely silent by not gasping. It didn't move at an especially fast pace, but most elevators Samus had ridden usually required a push of a button to guide.

Except for the friction noise by the elevator (sounding a bit like a muffled version of her ship), the facility made no sound- no whispers, no machines, no footsteps. It almost seemed like it was abandoned.

Or dead.

The ride lasted about thirty seconds before the abrupt stop occurred. Samus was almost thrown off her feet by the momentum of the stop. Looking to her left and right, Samus lightly stepped forward. She left the elevator behind, constantly moving her head to watch for any enemy. Any enemy. One could easily jump around a corner and catch her off guard, or one from the ceiling. Even one from the floor could surprise her. The worst part about fighting primids was that where one was, more usually followed.

The lights were dim in this hallway, as if nobody maintained the facility. She began to believe that the watcher was a prankster or simply dumb. Why would something as important as an infinite power supply like a pikachu be held in an abandoned facility, she wondered. It looked extraordinarily clean, however. The hallways looked whitewashed, as if cut from the purest marble in the galaxy. It almost looked unnatural, but befit a scientific facility.

For an abandoned facility, why then did Samus feel... watched?

Her footsteps felt as loud as the door from which she entered. The hallways seemed like a labyrinth. She didn't know how the inside of the building was laid out, but Samus had seen the building quite well from the outside and took guesses on how to get to the center of the facility.

Samus turned right after a while, believing that was the correct path to the center. The facility seemed larger on the inside than on the outside even though she knew it was not physically possible. She had been walking a full two minutes and the end of the hallway didn't seem to be in sight. She glanced at the white wall to her right. It conveyed a slight

Turning another corner, Samus heard a slight squeal from behind her. Assuming her morphball position, she rolled to the side, bumping the wall and jumping out of it while firing three successive shots with her beam, all without questioning what foe stood against her.

Nothing.

"I know you're here. Show yourself!" Samus commanded, her back to the wall. Samus no longer felt alone, but followed. Hearing the squeal again, she cocked her head to both sides, ready to intercept the threat foolish enough to stand against her. Samus gasped silently as she slowly lifted her head. A small, white camera with a dark lense, shiny enough for Samus to see her eyes gaze upon her, investigated her.

"Samus..." the quiet voice made the disciplined bounty hunter jump, and this time her gasp was anything but silent. She recognized the voice as the watcher. He spoke her name again, this time quieter than before. "Samus... goodnight, my dear."

And all went dark.


End file.
